Nano Crystalline Cellulose (NCC) is one of the most exciting new bio-materials made from cellulose, the main component of cell walls of trees and plants, and which is present in waste streams of, e.g., paper mills and municipal sewage system sludge. In its almost-pure form, cellulose has a tiny crystalline molecular structure. NCC has intriguing properties and many potential applications. NCC may be present as liquid crystal solution in water and is known to self-assemble to macro scale ordered films having thicknesses at the nanoscale.
The nano-sized crystals possess interesting size-dependent structural and optical properties. The ability to play with the processing variables allows one to control the structure, composition, size, and level of dispersion of such nano crystals.
The routine and extensive use of plastic films composed of such materials as polyethylene (PE) and polycarbonate (PC) or poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has greatly increased, becoming a major environmental concern. The ability to reduce the amounts of such polymers in polymeric articles, while maintaining mechanical integrity, yet endow the materials or articles with optoelectronic properties has thus far been proved unsuccessful for a variety of reasons.